In Action for 50 Years

After graduating from high school, Bernard Meyer completed his university studies in Hanover and Hamburg from 1967 to 1973. He graduated as a graduate engineer spe-cialising in shipbuilding. In May 1973 he started his career at MEYER WERFT and be-came a member of the management in 1976. Since January 1982 he has been managing partner of MEYER WERFT. Together with his father, he succeeded in entering the cruise ship building market in the mid-1980s. This entry was the basis for MEYER WERFT’s growth over the last 35 years. Completely against the industry trend, the shipyard grew continuously while many other shipyards had to close. Today, the German MEYER Group builds around 80% of Germany’s merchant shipbuilding. Since 2012 and 2016, his sons Dr Jan Meyer and Tim Meyer have been the company’s seventh-generation managing directors.

Two covered building dock halls, a state-of-the-art laser centre and a new logistics centre have been built at the shipyard in Papenburg over the last 40 years or so, to name just a few important innovations. Further technological leaps were made possible by the in-troduction of new CAD software in the design offices from the late 1980s onwards. "This step and other consistent improvements then made it possible to build blocks with ex-tensive advance equipment. For some years now, we have also been building the blocks on an assembly line and our IT has also made significant further progress. In addition to these process improvements, the ships have been consistently developed technically and architecturally," says Bernard Meyer.

Bernard Meyer has been on the board and presidium of the Shipbuilding and Ocean Industries Association (VSM) since 1981 and has twice been its chairman. He has also twice been President of the European Shipbuilding Association. Today, he is Vice-Chair-man of SEA Europe, the European lobby group for the maritime industry. In December 2009, Bernard Meyer was the first and only shipbuilder to be awarded the Werner-von-Siemens Ring, Germany’s highest engineering prize.

In addition to MEYER WERFT in Papenburg, Bernard Meyer, Jan Meyer, Tim Meyer and Paul Meyer, who is responsible for the group’s IT, manage the fortunes of NEPTUN WERFT in Rostock-Warnemünde and MEYER TURKU in Finland together with an ex-perienced management team. NEPTUN WERFT has been part of the group since 1997 and MEYER TURKU has been part of the family since 2014.

Generational transition and transformation in difficult times

Bernard Meyer sees many companies and shipyards failing due to generational transi-tion. With two family foundations, he therefore secures the continuity and succession for the now three shipyard locations at an early stage: "When my sons joined the company, I relinquished active responsibility," says Bernard Meyer. He continues to support his sons and the other members of the management in an advisory capacity. "We have grown tenfold through cruising. At the same time, however, German shipbuilding has shrunk to a tenth," says Bernard Meyer, describing the situation today.

And again, the MEYER Group is in a state of flux: "When the cruise market collapsed in the 2020 pandemic, we looked for alternatives. We stretched our order book, adapting it to the special situation, so that we could hand over fully completed ships in the usual MEYER quality to our customers, despite all the disruptions to the supply chains and material bottlenecks. But it was also clear to us that we had to become more independent of the cruise market," says Bernard Meyer.

Today, there is another research vessel in the order book, older ships are being con-verted to more environmentally friendly propulsion systems by the after-sales brand MEYER RE and there is a division for green superyachts. Bernard Meyer also sees a great future for the construction of floating buildings with MEYER Floating Solutions. At the same time, MEYER WERFT is working intensively on transformation and improve-ment projects to achieve better annual and project results and to emerge from this crisis stronger in the medium and long term. "The current crisis caused by the pandemic and war in Europe has not yet been overcome, but I am confident that we will also master it and emerge stronger from it," says Bernard Meyer.

The staff and management team of the shipyards use today to congratulate Bernard Meyer and to thank him for his tireless commitment to the MEYER Group.